Emma Kovak of The Breakthrough Institute makes the environmental case of genetically engineered crops.
- Genetically engineered crops (GECs) have tremendous climate and agricultural benefits.
- GECs have allowed farmers to reduce pesticide use and increase crop yields, which has lowered agricultural emissions and decreased food scarcity.
- In the European Union, where GECs are widely banned, adopting policies to allow for more genetically engineered crops to be produced could prevent 33 megatons per year of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
- As the global need to produce food while reducing emissions increases, policymakers would be wise to allow for increases in genetically engineered crop production.
“There is a global need to increase crop production to feed a growing population. High-income industrialized countries already have the tools to increase crop yields; in contrast, farmers in lower-income countries often struggle to access inputs like fertilizer. By prioritizing organic production over yields, the EU is promoting deforestation and biodiversity loss in lower-income countries — all while continuing to import the non-organic genetically engineered crops that EU countries refuse to grow domestically.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
